[coffeebuzzbuzz]

Hey all. I haven't posted for a couple months. Life got busy. Anyways, I wanted some input on something that has lingered in my mind. I grew up with a mother who chain smoked a couple packs + cigarettes daily inside the home. I remember always being sick with colds, strep, the flu, etc. As a teenager I was always unusually tired. Blood work found nothing. All my life I would have trouble breathing when running or doing strenuous activities. First I thought it was normal. My lungs always burned and I got severely out of breath. Then as I got older, I kept thinking I was just out of shape. So I would work out and run more. Didn't help. Then as a young adult, I got married and had 2 kids. My marriage was horrible and stressful. I gained 100lbs. in ten years. Any time I went to a doctor and mentioned difficultly breathing, they just brushed it off and said it was from being obese. Well, it made it really hard to exercise when I couldn't breathe. So I just stopped.

Well, now I am 30 and finally have my asthma diagnosed. Last year I when I was pregnant I had a severe attack, and they diagnosed me. I kind of knew I was probably asthmatic because of the secondhand smoke, plus it is abundantly inherited on my mom's side. Recently my doctor put me on Singulair. Wow. For once in my life I do not have mucus constantly draining down my throat, or am tied down to a tissue box. I had a really bad problem of getting attacks when I laugh, but not anymore.

I know this seems silly, but this is really life changing for me. Something that most people think is nothing can really impact the quality of life. It got me to think maybe all of these "minor" health issues I have gotten piled onto my plate are from the asthma. Or the asthma caused some and it just snowballed. I am also really upset that no one listened to me before. I could have had a better life. Instead of treating the cause of my problems, doctors only treated the symptoms.

For instance, in my early 20s I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, pre diabetes, then diabetes, Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia(heartrate of 99 bpm + at rest constantly), hypothyroidism, diverticulosis, moderate onstructive sleep apnea, and from my pregnancies, pelvic organ prolapse. I am also Bipolar II and have Aspbergers, but I know those are definitely unrelated to asthma.

Verdict? I am hoping to finally lose this excess weight since I can exert myself with no problems. This morning I was able to do a lot of deep cleaning that I have put off because it's difficult to do(lots of bending over, stretching, running back and forth, lifting, etc.). Also...I have noticed I do not need 4-5 cups of coffee to just be awake. I have 2-3 cups now just because I like the taste. Could my now controlled asthma mean I am getting better sleep? I have to do a sleep study again soon, plus regular bloodwork, so I guess we will see.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. All of this has been on my mind for years. Like I said, doctors(a lot of specialists even) did not connect the dots. So I went with it. Not anymore! Thanks for reading if you got this far.

[lowinmood]

doctors can and do get it wrong! sometimes they don't listen to people either.

it's good though that at the moment you're feeling a bit better, hope it stays that way for you.